Weekend Trip, Family, Peace, and Comfort

Just returned from a wonderful weekend with our family. Our niece was married in the Manti Temple on Saturday morning. The drive up was beautiful—early morning, snow on mountains, gray, billowy clouds that hung low on the mountains and the valley, perhaps a foreboding of what was to come in the afternoon, farmers spreading manure on partially snow-covered fields, and the then stunning Manti Temple, just as we neared Manti, sitting stoically on the hill overlooking the valley, the sleepy village of Manti, and eternity.

I personally appreciated the quietness of the temple, where the cares of the world are null and void, unless you bring them with you. The serenity was palpably peaceful, truly diametrically opposed from the frothy din, the negative, the ugliness, and viciousness of the world.

I took this picture of a leaning shack, which is situated on the side of the road just out of Nephi on the way to Manti. Not that it is such a great picture; rather, the lopsidedness of it that was revealing…



This morning as we drove home, we were awed by the drive up Provo Canyon. The night before brought snows that covered parts of Utah during a blizzard-like snow. But the stunning freshness of the Canyon was incredible. Think of the quietness of a Sunday morning drive up the Canyon, with the Provo River on your right, and sides of the mountains covered with scrub brush, leafless quakies, pines, other types of trees whose names I know not, dusted with frost and snow, creating a sense of eeriness yet softness and beauty. We just drove and felt the peace and comfort we have needed over the past few weeks.

Finally, I stopped for a moment and took these two pictures. Pictures just do not do the canyon justice, at least not this morning and the dusting whiteness that encompassed most of the canyon.





We are home now, reveling in a delightful time with our daughters, our sweet, little Emiline (see pictures below), and our family.